


Tiny Teener

by ColdKate



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, F/F, Fluff, Polyamory, Protective Chloe Price, Small Max AU, Small!Max, Tiny Max AU, Tiny!Max, cuteness, pricemarshfield
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-15 14:35:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28940064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ColdKate/pseuds/ColdKate
Summary: Max Caulfield is a normal photography student at Blackwell who has just reunited with her childhood BFF Chloe Price over the first month back in Arcadia Bay. With the two of them becoming close friends again, the world finally seems to be all right. Until one October morning, she wakes up in her dorm room as usual, but has to realize that overnight her whole existence has been inexplicably reduced to about five inches in height. Regardless of the how, Max has to get along with her new situation for better or worse, but not only Chloe is there for her more than ever before...
Relationships: Maxine "Max" Caulfield/Kate Marsh/Chloe Price
Comments: 9
Kudos: 17





	Tiny Teener

It must already be eight in the morning when Max perceives the buzzing of her set phone alarm, gently pulling her out of the land of dreams. Cozily warm fabric covers her from neck to toe, only increasing the desire to not begin the day yet. Usually, it would take her just a few seconds until the vibration sound next to her ear outweighs the necessary energy to stretch out her arm and hit snooze, but the blanket somehow seems to feel extra comfy and heavy today. So, she might as well keep her eyes closed for a while longer...

After what feels like a minute that probably were five on earth, she slowly rolls onto her side to finally reach for her phone. Though by doing so, her hand unexpectedly still lands on the sheet instead of her nightstand. Damn, has she been sleeping on the last edge of her bed again? Her back wouldn't forgive her that another time...

She turns to the other side to feel for the wall that must be right next to her, but then strangely doesn't find anything other than empty air and the fabric of her bedsheet either. Man, where the hell is she?

She fully opens her eyes now to make some sense of her surroundings, but the only wall she immediately encounters is the giant white and pink blanket in front of her.

Okay, this has to be a dream. She presses her eyelids back together, trying to clear her mind of what she just saw. No, this cannot be real...

And for a short while this effectively seems to work. But the longer Max stays like that, the more she realizes how awake she actually is and the weight of the blanket still feels as real as before. Even her phone hasn't given up yet the whole time. She can't help but risk a view again.

Against all her hopes the wrinkled and patterned hillscape is still there, but the thing that actually makes her blood run cold is when she looks to the side and notices the scale of everything in the room which is without doubt hers. At the latest now she's fully awake.

In slight panic she quickly tries to get up from her lying position, only to be frightened even more by the few inches of difference it has made. What the... How? How can that be?

Max tries to completely get on her feet, sensing how she doesn't even sink a single inch into the mattress. Looking fearfully down at herself, she notices that she's even wearing her same t-shirt and pajama pants as before. In fact, everything on her looks kinda normal, except... except that she is just small...

The realization devastates her and just thinking about this word which she had used like it was nothing all the time, makes her hair stand on end now. Shit, this is real... This is freaking real...

She gives her best to not instantly pass out on the spot, although seemingly infinite questions and fears are flashing through her mind. What on earth is she going to do now? She can't go to class like that. Can she even go anywhere? Why did this happen to her in the first place? And how? She just went to bed like normal yesterday...

Max has to remind herself to breathe. Continuing this won't achieve anything. Even if it is so surreal, her only chance is to somehow seek for help now...

She pulls herself together enough to walk to the edge of her mattress, seeing if there's a way for her to get down. And as she doesn't know any different, it looks like it's less than two feet to the ground, but for her this might be ten or twenty now. Crap, she isn't able to estimate it.

Again, Max has to tell herself to calm down. Okay, Kate must've already gone to her illustration class by now and otherwise she isn't that close with anybody here. So, it only remains to hope that Chloe is already awake. Maybe if she can get to her phone on the nightstand, she might be able to call her. Yeah, that might work...

After another long moment of processing and the first shock actually more or less fading a bit, she then decides to just try to fully focus on the objective for the time being. There isn't much else she could do anyway.

Since the only real problem for her should be to get over the little gap between her mattress and the nightstand, Max begins by searching the top of her bed for something that could be used as a bridge. A sheer hopeless task, given that she keeps it totally clear most of the time, but what choice does she have?

The pillow? Definitely too heavy for her. Her teddy bear? Nah, too unstable...

But of course!

Her eyes scan the entire surface around her. It must be here somewhere. Damn, where is it?

And just a few seconds later she actually finds what she was looking for. _The October Country_ lies in the last corner on the sheet behind her pillow. Although Kate has already lent her the book for a week, she just had the time to finish half of it the last couple of days. Thanks God, she was too tired yesterday to put it back on her desk.

With some new motivation, Max gets behind it to first try and then effectively push it little by little, towards the gap where it needs to be. Surprisingly, this turns out to be way less difficult than she had expected since the book isn't that heavy and big for her size. Though, it still kinda reminds her of moving one of those big blue gymnastic mats from physical education class.

She feels a good portion of her already small amount of morning energy gone as she finally reaches the edge, aligning the book so that the shorter side ends up being parallel to the rim. Hard to believe that she was able to hold it with only one hand just yesterday.

But now comes the even harder part of her plan...

Please let this work... She grabs under the bottom cover to lift it up on her side, first only with her hands, then lever-like with the support of one knee and finally by pressing her whole body against the thing, until it gets to its tipping point. From there on she can just hope that it neither misses the edge of her nightstand nor overshoots the one of her bed and so she narrows her eyes to a slit for a second. Please don't fall down, please don't fall down...

Max hears it dashing with a vague bang against said edge, opening her eyes to see that it actually has come to lie there like a bridge and just slid a tiny bit forward on her end, but fortunately not enough to slip off.

"Yes!" she catches herself rejoicing out loud.

In an instant she carefully pulls it back a safe slice onto the mattress and then tests if it can carry her weight. Of course, it can...

By that and trying not to look down too much, Max can indeed just walk over to her phone. God, what an adventure for such a tiny task. Though, at the same time kinda cool that her plan has worked out.

When she finally reaches the giant device that rather is a human-sized touch screen for her now, she first has to swipe the notification for her missed alarm away and then taps the call menu button to select the contact named _Chloe_.

The dialing up phase feels like it's taking forever and the following long seconds of beeping cycles do not help either.

C'mon, pick up, pick up...

Maybe she isn't awake yet, after all.

"Hey what's up, Maximus?" she finally answers. "This better be important cuz you've just torn me from my sleep."

"Oh, thank goodness you're there, Chloe. Sorry, I... I, uh... Can you come to my dorm? I need your help... or actually I don't know. But I definitely need you."

"What? I mean... sure? What's the matter?"

"Trust me, you wouldn't believe if I told you on the phone. Can you just come here? The door isn't locked."

"Okay, hang on. I'll be there in five."

"Thanks. But please don't hurry too much. It's not that urgent... I think."

"You're kinda scaring me, Max. But too late, I'm virtually out the door. See you in a bit." Chloe says before hanging up.

Dammit, what did Max got herself into now? She puts her phone aside and then pulls herself to get out of bed. This for sure isn't her time of day, but she'd cut a path through the jungle if Max really needs her help.

Chloe quickly puts on a random pair of jeans, some shoes and only finishes slipping into her cozy black leather jacket when she's already half down the stairs. Though, in her rush towards the front door and being about to open it, Joyce catches her from the kitchen counter.

"Chloe, you want to leave already?" She emerges from behind the wooden frame. "You didn't even have breakfast yet." 

"I'll skip it today, mom." She takes a first step out into the warm October morning. "Max needs my help with something."

"Oh... Well okay then. Have a nice day you two! You do know that Max can come eat here with us too sometime. She's such a lovely young woman."

"Sure, mom. But can I now..."

"Yeah, yeah, of course sweetie. Ah, youth..."

Chloe notices how she shakes her head a little before closing the door behind her. But without wasting another second, she immediately gets to her truck, hops in the driver seat and then turns the engine on. The old vehicle greets her with a roaring sound as she puts the gearshift lever in reverse and just a moment after pulls backwards out of the driveway.

Although Max had clearly implied that she should drive carefully, every red light that Chloe has to wait at only increases her worries about the cute little photographer. What did she mean by it not being that urgent? From her experiences and some shitty old movies this is exactly what people say when it is. Her fingers dig deeper into the steering wheel. Shit, what did you do, Caulfield?

Her brain keeps coming up with the worst and wildest scenarios of what could've happened, funny and awkward ones too as she needs a way to distract her thoughts, until the car finally makes it through the last crossing and enters the Blackwell parking lot. Chloe then parks it in a spot this is directly next to the stairs where she has to go, removes the keys from the ignition lock and hops off.

The steps take her up to the outside area of the campus, which basically is a small castle garden with a dozen view-blocking panels that showcase a ton of art school hipster crap. The only reason she actually skims through them from time to time is to see if something's from Max. But now is definitely not the time for that. With bounding strides she makes her way past them and to the other side where the dormitories are.

And as she arrives at the entrance of the building with already mild exhaustion, she gets inside only to find herself at the bottom of yet another stairway. Man, why are there so many stairs at Blackwell?

It doesn't help... She laboriously drags herself up the last steps that are way too small to take them singly but also too big to skip one, until she finally gets to the right corridor and reaches Max's door.

She does not halt to knock or anything and promptly opens it herself as Max had told her to, although a little more rampantly than Chloe has actually intended.

"I'm here!" she gasps. "I am... Uh... Max?"

She looks around in the seemingly lonesome room. Everything looks normal to her and there aren't any traces of whatever happened, but also neither hide nor hair of the girl in question. What the hell, Caulfield?

She turns around and is just about to leave and call her again, before her voice suddenly sounds from somewhere to her left.

"I am here." Max says, having just needed a few seconds to process her counterpart's apparently normal size.

Chloe looks down in confusion about the direction. And the moment she spots her standing on top of the nightstand, being not even as big as the phone next to her, she disbelievingly covers her mouth with both hands and stumbles a few steps back.

"W-w-what?!" She stares at her with wide open eyes now. "I... What the... I mean... How?!"

"Yeah, right?" Max lets her arms slap against her sides. "That's what I asked myself too when I woke up."

Chloe just stands rooted to the spot in the middle of the room now. "You... you woke up like that?" She manages to put her hands down again, trying her best to not lose it. "Okay, you were right... I definitely wouldn't have believed you on the phone..."

There is a long moment of silence between them, both needing a minute to process this strange situation they're in. And the more the realization that is not some kind of weird dream she has kicks in, the more questions overcome her brain. But this is definitely Max in front of her, except that the universe must've put her too long into the dryer last night. Or did everything else got bigger? It doesn't matter...

"Yeah, I thought so." Max eventually nods. "I mean I'm not yet fully believing it either. Everything is just so surreal since I opened my eyes. I'm just glad I could call you." 

"Shit, I can imagine..." She rubs the back of her head, then attempts a careful smile. "I mean, you were always such a tiny midget, but damn, not like that..."

"This isn't funny, Chloe." Max responds dejectedly. "What am I going to do now? How can I ever even go anywhere again? I for sure can't even use my camera anymore like this. I..." She visibly comes near to tears.

"Hey..." Chloe replies softly, finding the courage to sit down on the bed near the nightstand to gently stroke her back with one finger. "I don't know what happened to you, but we'll figure something out. I promise."

"M-maybe you're right..." she sobs. "That's why I called you, after all. It's just that this is so extremely overwhelming for me, you know?"

"That's totally fine, Max." she comforts her. "You already showed so much strength by not going completely crazy about this. Honestly, I think I would've instantly peed myself if that happened to me... Wait, you didn't, did you?"

That makes her giggle a bit while shaking her head. "Seems like despite all we have in common I might be a little better at accepting unusual things then."

"You are." Chloe smiles at her. "You were always one step ahead of me. But you don't have to go through this alone, okay? C'mon, let's start by first making up an excuse for your teachers to buy ourselves some time."

"Oh, uh... No need for that anymore. I texted Kate if she could call me in sick for today."

"Damn, you really thought about everything already, huh?"

"Yeah..." Max replies hesitantly. "But I felt bad for having to lie to her. If my state doesn't change back before she brings me my homework this afternoon, I want her to know what's up too."

"Makes sense." Chloe agrees. "And what do you intend to do till then?"

"I dunno..." she shrugs her shoulders. "Wait it out here until I maybe become normal again?"

" _Or_ we could make something of it and have a little fun in the meantime... Look, I don't want you to hang in this room and be downcast because of yourself all day. I mean, being that tiny can also have its perks. You can afford to take chances!"

"How so?" Max follows up curiously. "And should I just walk around in my pajamas everywhere?!"

Chloe lets out an amused sigh. "Girl, you magically shrunk down to the size of what... a teaspoon? And then you worry about going out in jams? That is so Caulfield logic."

"Fine..." she manages a slight grin. "Can you at least check if my other clothes might have shrunk with me too?"

"Sure. All for my little princess." Chloe smirks before getting up.

She walks over to Max's wardrobe and pulls a curtain away to take a look inside. Her gaze then immediately falls onto a bunch of hipster clothes, lame shirts and jeans and... and one plain black dress. Everything in usual sizes, though.

"Bad news is... Your closet is annoyingly still as big as before." she says as she closes it again. Then her eyes suddenly become all wide and practically start to glow. "Oh, how about we go shopping today? For your size I could probably afford you a whole new wardrobe with what I have with me!"

"Huh? Where?" she darts her a questioning look.

"Well, I'm friends with the owner of this toy store in downtown." Chloe explains excitedly. "Rachel and Victoria had just dragged me into it for their theater project a few weeks ago. They sell realistic supplies and clothes for all sorts of children's toys. Aww, if we are luckily they might even have little flannels!"

While her counterpart seems to virtually melt in imagination, Max takes some time to think about this idea. But actually it isn't that hard of a decision, given the alternatives she has.

"Ah, why not. I could need some distraction right now. But I'm not that mobile, you know? Can you give me a lift?"

"Oh, of course..."

Chloe gets closer to the nightstand and holds her hand in front of the wooden top, giving her an encouraging look that it's safe. And after a moment of consideration, she watches how Max carefully gets onto her palm and then sits down with her feet resting on her fingers.

"God, you're so cute!"

Max cannot suppress a sheepish smile. "Can I be in one of your pockets, though? I think that might be a bit safer while walking."  
  
"Yeah, sure..." She lifts her hand up further and gently lets her slip into the front one of her jacket. "Is that okay for you?"

It takes her a second to peep her head out of the top. "Mmhm, it's comfy..." Then she firmly holds onto the seam with both hands. "But also hella high."

"Wait, wait wait, wait. Did you actually just say _hella_?" Chloe asks amazedly as she was just about to head for the door with her. "I see I'm a good bad influence on you."

"You wish." Max laughs.

The way back across the campus is much more eased for Chloe this time since a good part of the uncertainty from before has vanished. And with Max in her pocket she wouldn't try to go any faster than walking speed anyway.

They make their way past the main entrance of the school and towards the stairs to the parking lot again. And although Max is definitely more aware of every step they take, especially while going down stairs, the padding of Chloe's jacket provides an acceptable amount of suspension beneath her feet.

Like on road trips back then, she has spent the last minutes just watching the flora quickly rushing past her. Fall hasn't caused the trees to drop their leaves yet, but they already shine in beautiful orange-red tones, creating mystical sunbeams all over the place. God, does she wish she could take a picture of that right now... It would at least be an interesting perspective that not many people might usually get to see. Why couldn't her camera just have been downsized with her?

It isn't fair... She promises to herself that once all of this is over, she'll hug it as tightly as she can.

When the two finally arrive at the bottom of the last stairs where the rusty truck is still parked next to, Chloe unlocks the door on the driver side of the vehicle to then carefully get inside with her.

She might've gotten too used to it already, but for Max the interior promptly smells like the kitchen of a fast food restaurant. Not necessarily a bad smell, but definitely stronger than the air freshener on the rearview mirror. Or did her nose also become more sensitive? That would at least kinda make sense...

As Chloe has meanwhile put her hands on the steering wheel, seemingly ready to hit the roads of Arcadia, she suddenly lets go of it again and after that just starts biting her lower lip. "Huston, we have a small problem." she says jokingly. "I can't steer with you in my pocket without risking bruising you in a turn."

"But I cannot just sit on the seat bench either." Max replies insistently. "That won't end well."

"Mmmh, yeah wait a second..."

Chloe lets her down on the cushion and leans over to open the glovebox on her side. Apart from a bunch of stuff and lots of trash, weirdly a whole stack of black and white posters is one of the first things that comes to light in there.

 _After The Storm - A novel puppet play by the Blackwell drama club_ , it says in big bold letters on each one. So, she put them up all over the campus. Rachel must've begged her for it...

Chloe reaches for the stapler behind the stack, though. Then she unexpectedly pulls one of her black rubber bracelets off of her arm and actually bites it through once, breaking the loop. With both ends in her hands, she staples them diagonally to the seat cover of her truck.

"There you go." she smiles at her.

Max returns it as she slips into the elastic band belt from above. "Thank you, Chloe."

"I... I must say... in the thirty years that I've been sewing and selling things here, I've never had a... well real costumer before." The owner of the little shop seems quite astonished, looking at Max who stands innocently on top of the counter. "But I mean, for this young lady my modest store is of course more than honored to help. What can I do for you two?"

"Thanks, Sam. I'd say, first a few basics for her would be nice." Chloe answers casually.

"Mmmm... oh, yeah, sure... Excuse me, I was still absorbed in thought there for a moment. Let me just get my measuring tape."

Sam bends down to open a drawer somewhere under Max's feet and shortly afterwards comes back up with a crinkled yellow tapeline in their hands.

"Okay, let's see..." They hold it upright directly at her. "Well... looks like almost exactly five inches to me. I think chances are good that you'll make a find here. But I guess the proof of the pudding is in the eating."

"Cool!" Chloe replies excitedly. "We'll be looking around for ourselves then."

"Oh, of course, feel free to. I'll be in the back workshop in case you need me. I still have two special orders to finish until tomorrow. You know, it finally makes a change from repairing plushie's eyes." Sam laughs.

"Sure, don't worry about us." she says while waiting Max to climb onto her hand again. "I think we'll manage all right."

"I trust you, Chloe." they reply, being about to disappear behind a curtain. "And uhm... Make sure to try the things from the left shelves over there first. They might already fit her without me having to adjust them."

"Thanks, we'll do that." she answers right before Sam leaves them alone in the room.

Max still waits until they're certainly out of hearing range to finally say something since Chloe and her have entered the shop.

"Wow, I have to admit that I had my doubts about telling a stranger, but you were definitely right about Sam being super cool."

"Yeah, right? It's actually hard to not become friends with them. First time I was here, we had at least an hour-long talk while Ms. Perfect and Ms. Snobby couldn't decide on a dress or pants for one of their puppets."

That makes her giggle. "I can so imagine that..."

With Max on her hand, Chloe then heads for the section that they were recommended to visit first and after passing a few shelves full of stuffed animals and teddy bears, they eventually find themselves in the far left corner of the store. Under a sign with the label 1:12 there is a whole wall of miniature toys, from numerous dolls and different sized houses, to small clothing in all sorts of styles and colors. Max can literally feel the childish enthusiasm rising in Chloe. 

With a giant grin on her face, she lets her down next to a small caravan in the opposite shelves. Turns out, they have little flannels. And even socks and shoes. She right away begins traipsing round the wall to hoard a bunch of clothes and various outfits on her index finger.

"Here, this should be your size." She finally hands her a pair of ripped jeans and a white tank top.

"But not quite my style." Max complains.

"Max, you don't have a style yet." Chloe says, adding a red flannel to pile in front of her. "Put this on and let your inner punk rock girl come out!"

"Okay, okay." she smiles, indeed a little carried away by her rapture. "I'll do. Although I'm not really sure about how this will look on me. But it would be nice to try them on, just to see if they fit."

"Yeah and stop second-guessing yourself!" she pats her head. "You'll absolutely rock this outfit. Perhaps use the trailer behind you as a changing room..."

Max does so, taking the stack of clothes and a pair of shoes inside with her and after that closes the door in front of Chloe. It takes her a few minutes to change into everything from head to toe, but the stuff actually fits her like a glove. Only the flannel might just be a little too long for her, but that would've probably also been the case for most ones of her old size. With her eventually finished look, she opens the door again and gets out to present herself to Chloe.

"And?" She turns once on her own axis.

"Lookin' sick, Max! A couple tats, some piercings and we'll make a thrasher out of you yet."

Max strikes a goofy pose at that. "Ready for the mosh pit, shaka brah!"

She watches Chloe's gaze instantly dropping a significant bit. "Maybe not..." She turns about again and proceeds looking for suitable things for her to try. The choice of the wall is still large, after all. "Mmmmh, what next?"

"Oh, uh..." She points at the piece that she had already spotted right when they initially got here. "Can you give me that top and the jacket over there? I'd like to see if they fit me too."

Chloe checks her side to see what she means and when noticing the plain pink shirt and generic gray zipper hoodie, she can only roll her eyes. "Max... really? This is the best chance to rebuild your entire wardrobe and you still want your lame-ass hipster clothes back?"

She says nothing after that and instead just looks at her with those big begging eyes that her parent's wallet must've feared whenever they went shopping with her.

"Uuhh, fine... But you keep this one, okay?"

Max nods. "Yeah, I really do like it. I just also want something that is more _me_ , you know?"

"Yes... I can get that." she agrees with a smile. "I want you to be happy, after all."

Chloe hands her the parts over, plus a cute pair of blue jeans that is similar to her old ones and she admittedly has never seen Max happier than when she comes back out of the trailer with them on.

They spend at least another half an hour, picking out suitable shirts, tops and other necessary stuff until lastly, Chloe actually find a small messenger bag for her. Of course, it's not that detailed with zippers and everything as a conventional one would be, but for her it still the best feeling in the world to have something like that on her shoulder again.

More than contentedly, they eventually return to the checkout with everything and call Sam by the customer bell on the counter. It doesn't take very long until they get to them, emerging from the back area of the shop again.

"And? Found something?"

"Yes, more than I need in fact." Max replies first. "Thanks a lot for making these, Sam."

"Well, then it was an honor for me, young lady. I'm already glad whenever I can make children's hearts beat faster with my work, but who would've thought that someone indeed relied on it some day? Definitely not me..." Sam begins to scan the clothes they got.

Even though Max had never paid much interest in how these things work, for a moment in thought she catches her eyes following the big shiny laser line like with the eyes of a cat. At least now she knows how that is...

"And needless to say that the ones you're wearing come on the house."

"Told you we'd be at the right place here, Max." Chloe grins as she pulls out her wallet.

It must be some time around noon when she wakes up again, slowly struggling to open eyes to the daylight. A sweetish mellow scent reaches her nose as she stretches her arms and body. After their trip to the toy store, she has decided to take a little midday nap inside of Chloe's pocket. Was probably just all a bit much for one morning...

"Well, slept well?" Chloe asks, grinning down at her. 

"Mmmmmmhm... What's that smell?"

"Belgian Waffle. Came in just a minute ago. I figured one would be enough for both of us." she smirks.

Max nods with a smile. Then Chloe sets her down on the table next to it. And when taking a short look around herself, she finally recognizes where they are. They sit in the Two Whales, in their usual last but one booth next to the jukebox. Thinking about it, this seems kinda natural since the shop was just two streets away.

Her gaze immediately wanders to the counter though, as she hears the familiar sound of the bar flap shutting. Joyce approaches them with a plate in her hands.

"And one dish of ice-cream for my two favorite girls. How are you doing, Max?" she asks.

"Uhhh... fine? I..."

"Hey, don't worry." Chloe says. "I told her about what happened. I wanted to ask you first, but she caught me on the walk over here in her break. There was no more room for excuses when she noticed you in my pocket."

"Y-yeah... all good... It's nice to see you, Joyce."

"Well, nice to see you too." she kindly replies, supporting herself with her hands on the edge. "I guess, yet again I can tell you that you look different than the last time. I honestly didn't expect to ever be happy about seeing your feet on this table." she attempts a smile.

"Neither did I..." Max returns it sheepishly.

"God, I cannot imagine how that must've been like for you, waking up. And you have no idea how that happened. Poor thing."

"It's... okay, I got Chloe."

Joyce nods. "Of course. I'm sure she treats you wonderfully." She rises up again and turns to her daughter. "Promise me that you look out for her, yeah?"

"We look out for each other." Chloe corrects her. "She is still Max Caulfield, no matter what."

The corners of her mouth go up. "I'm glad to hear that. After all these years and everything that happened, it's great to see you both together again." She runs a hand over her shoulder. "Well, I should probably get back to work now... Plus, I can tell that you two are hungry like wolves. Dig in!"

"Thanks, Joyce." Max rubs her hands. "I'm drooling like a baby." she smiles.

Chloe also looks like she didn't need to be told twice. And as soon as her mom leaves them alone at the booth, she cuts off a big chunk for herself and a small corner for Max. At least small compared to the total scale of the waffle, because it still turns out almost half as big as her arm.

"Then bon appétit!" she does a gesture with her fork.

"Same to you!" Max grins with the prospect of finally becoming fully sated.

She sits down on the table surface, holding the piece between both hands like a hamster and then begins to work her way downward with little bites.

Nowhere else has she ever had a breakfast that got even remotely close to the one's here. Perhaps also because the taste always comes with great childhood memories. It reminds her of hours like this one, when there wasn't much to worry about, except for maybe being home before dinner. Their adventures back then were mostly imaginary, but this right now kinda feels exactly like when they were kids...

Chloe and her finish their at least proportionally similar parts at about the same time and after that set about the dessert. She has to watch out a little to not get stuck with her tongue on it, but when else do you ever have a whole mountain of ice cream in front of you?

An eventually full and satisfied stomach later, Max lies down on the table with her hands behind her head, looking contentedly at the ceiling. In the meantime Chloe still finishes the rest of the plate, apparently not having had enough yet.

"You know..." she says with her mouth full of ice cream. "I'm actually a bit envious of you. I mean... having practically infinite food from just one dish of anything would be hella awesome for me."

"I quite believe it." she smirks. "Remember how we used to always empty the entire fridge on our sleepovers back then?"

"Mmmhm." Chloe lays the plate aside. "Speaking of... I still have a score to settle with you from our last one, remember?"

"Huh?" she looks dazedly at her.

"Oh, yes. And what better time for that would there be than now..." She starts to tickle her tummy.

"Eyyy..." Max has to laugh. "Thaaat's so not fair..." she giggles. "noo-Oh-Ooooo..."

"That's what you get for not letting me take my revenge for five years." Chloe says with a bright smile on her face, but after that allows her to recover.

Max is still grinning like a dork. "Oh, just you wait until I get to your feet some day..."

"And you just woke up like that?" Kate asks, fully tilting her cup for the third time this late afternoon into her mouth. Actually, it should be empty by now.

The three all sit on her couch next to the steaming electric kettle with Max in between them. After their late breakfast-lunch at the Two Whales, Chloe and her still went shopping for some more useful stuff, like a couple of thin synthetic pipe cleaners as a toothbrush substitute, a cheap phone stand to be able to use hers as a computer, a pill splitter and a toy dishware set including the mug that she's drinking her tea from right now.

"Yes." Max replies, looking up to her. "It was pretty scary and confusing at first, but Chloe did a great job supporting and encouraging me today."

"Understandable..." Kate nods thoughtfully. "But I'm glad you're at least doing alright. I was a little worried by your evasive messages this morning. It kinda makes sense now, though."

She darts her an approving gaze. "Yeah... I know how stressful the last time has been for you and I didn't want you to be concerned about me all day on top of that."

"That's sweet of you." she answers. "By the way, I got you all the work sheets you missed today. I can take pictures and send them to your phone if you want. Then you could adjust them to the right size." 

This causes a strange feeling of validation in Max. "Thanks, Kate." She finishes the last sip from her mug. "This would be nice."

"That's how I am." she gives her a smile. "Would you two like some more tea? There's still enough left for us."

Chloe exchanges an affirmative look with Max. "You're a godsend, Kate." she smirks. "Bring it on."

"Sure. Just a moment..."

Kate gets up and walks over to the shelves in the corner of her room to fetch the electric kettle she had prepared. She pulls the pair of dripping tea bags out and after that sits down with it next to them again. 

"Here you go." She carefully pours the hot beverage into Chloe's cup. 

"Thank you." she says gratefully. Then she puts a plastic straw in, seals the top with her thumb and pulls it out again to hold it with the bottom end above Max's one. As soon as she releases her thumb, the delicious fluid comes out as if at the push of a button.

Max loves seeing Chloe's old science geek side showing through to help her. "Thanks."

"So uhm..." Kate begins, leaning back. "What about tomorrow? Are you going to school, or..."  
  
"Uh... I don't know yet." Her gaze falls into her mug. "I mean I haven't really thought about this until now. Maybe I'll get out of bed like nothing happened, maybe not."

Chloe softly strokes her back. "You don't have to know now. Let's first await what's the state of affairs tomorrow and decide then."

"Yes... I think you're right." Max agrees with a gentle smile.

Chloe is about to say more, but before she can do so, suddenly feels something heavy landing on her lap.

"Whoa there, girl! Did you miss me?" She looks down and starts to pet Alice's fur. The small white bunny instantly snuggles up to her shirt. 

"Oh, look at who's finally awake." Kate giggles. "I was already wondering why it took her so long, given that she seemed to be totally into you last time. At least I've never seen her so glued like this to someone other than me."

"Well, must be my charm." she smirks.

Alice makes herself comfortable by Chloe's side, stretching her paws out on the couch and just shortly afterwards lies there in full length. While enjoying being stroked at her ears, she begins to look curiously at the tiny human next to her who is practically on the same eye level now.

"Aww, can I pet her as well?" Max asks. "Or is it too unsafe for me?"

"Of course you can." Kate reassures her. "As long as you're not made of cardboard, there's nothing to fear of my Alice. And I think she has already recognized you by your scent."

At that she begins to slowly get closer to the horse-sized bunny and carefully tries to reach out with her hand. Alice responds with a gentle nudge to it and gets up to excitedly circuit a few times around Max, until she eventually flops and cuddles up with her too.

"Awwww, look how cute they are!"

Chloe grins approvingly. "And I thought, seeing you in a flannel was the cutest thing I'd see today..."

The two sit jointly on the cushion for another few minutes, Max momentarily closing her eyes and letting her thoughts drift a little as she leans back into the fleecy fur, before Alice at length loses her interest and hops off to do something else.

Ultimately, Kate and her decide that it would be a good idea to do their homework together now. So, Chloe takes Max to the desk and sets up her phone on the stand as a monitor while Kate opens her laptop plus notepad next to it. 

Given the stack of paper she then comes up with and that she has to digitalize for Max, Blackwell certainly seems to ensure that their students would never get bored...

It's slowly getting darker outside as Chloe watches them working through their assignments from her lying position and at some point during a discussion about a Deguerreian Process or so, Alice even returns to have a nap on top of her warm stomach. She follows suit soon after.

The hours go by and faint moonlight slowly starts shining through the windows. But when the little hand of Kate's wristwatch approaches the nine, she finally flips her laptop shut and stretches her arms towards the ceiling with a good yawn.

"Well... I think that was enough for now." She gets up from her chair. "And I'm totally ready for bed."

"Yeah, I guess Diane Arbus can wait until tomorrow." Max replies, also yawning. "Her work seems to be interesting, though."

Meanwhile Chloe notices their talk and comes back up with rubbing her eyes. "Are you done?"

"Mmhm." Max nods. "Finally..." 

"Yes, it really was about time." Kate says, putting her notes aside. "Anyway, it's nice that you two came by. I'm glad to have some company at the moment."

Chloe also begins to pack their things together. "Sure. Talk to us any time." She lets Max climb onto her hand again. "And thanks for the tea."

Kate beams favorably at that and accompanies them to the door to say good night to each other. After that, she gently closes it, leaving them alone in the dark hallway.

Chloe's eyes need a few seconds to adjust to the lighting conditions to be able to Max sitting on her palm. "Crazy day, right?"

"Right."

They head for the door to her room, diagonally on the other side of the corridor. But before reaching it, Max has to assure herself regarding something on her mind. 

"Chloe, uh... Can you stay over tonight? I don't wanna wake up alone anymore. I... I just mean in case..."

"Of course." she replies with a grin. "That goes without saying. At least if you don't kill me this time for using your tooth brush." she smirks.

Max returns it. "I guess the circumstances allow for that."

After their common evening routine, followed by a late movie night and texting Joyce about their plans, they finally decide to go to bed as well. Though instead of the heavy blanket, Chloe has gotten her a clean and comfy sock from her wardrobe to sleep in.

"I'll take the couch in case you get big again." she says as Max is slipping into it on her bed.

"Good idea." She watches her setting up her roosting place on the cushion between the two arm rests. "You can also have one of my pillows if you want. And Chloe..." 

"Yeah?"

She waits for her to come back to the edge of the bed. "Thank you. For everything."

Chloe gets down on her level and softly strokes her hair with one finger. "You're awesome. You know, you're the most amazing person in my life, Max."

She snuggles smilingly in her sock at that. Then Chloe goes to switch the lights off and grabs the blanket to lay down with it on the couch. They both don't say anything for a while, just simultaneously staring at the ceiling and thinking about all the events of the past fifteen hours...

It's Max who eventually breaks the silence.

"Can I ask you a question? And please be honest..."

"Sure, spit it out."

"Today was actually kinda fun, but... What if this lasts forever?"

Chloe turns to her side to directly look into her eyes now. "I dunno, but that's okay as long as we will too. I'll always be with you, Max."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading the first chapter of Tiny Teener. I hope you're enyoing the premise as much as I do. To everyone except who already knows me from my [other fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24574051/chapters/59348770): It takes me quite a long time to write these chapters, so bear with me on this episodic journey :)
> 
> Also, I did some art for this fic:


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